Saturday, July 27, 2013

"Workers in the rain install underground walls to prevent contaminated
groundwater from flowing into the ocean on July 22 [2013]." Image Source: Asahi Shimbun.

A trench along the seawall at Fukushima with 5,000 cubic metres of water may be leaking - or be on the verge of leaking - into groundwater and into the Pacific. The water, which appears to be coming from, or did come from, under Fukushima Daiichi reactor #2, contains astonishing levels of radioactive material. After a 26 July test, TEPCO's published results from 27 July 2013 are translated from Japanese at EX-SKF here. Workers are building a wall of liquid glass between the trench and the sea to prevent extreme contamination of the Pacific Ocean.

“The water keeps increasing every minute, no matter whether we eat,
sleep or work,” said Masayuki Ono, a general manager with Tepco who acts
as a company spokesman. “It feels like we are constantly being chased,
but we are doing our best to stay a step in front.”...

The situation is worrisome enough that Shunichi Tanaka, a longtime
nuclear power proponent who is the chairman of the newly created
watchdog Nuclear Regulation Authority, told reporters after the
announcement of the leaking pits that “there is concern that we cannot
prevent another accident.” ...

A growing number of government officials and advisers now say that by
entrusting the cleanup to the company that ran the plant before the
meltdowns, Japanese leaders paved the way for a return to the
insider-dominated status quo that prevailed before the disaster.

Even many scientists who acknowledge the complexity of cleaning up the
worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl fear that the water crisis is
just the latest sign that Tepco is lurching from one problem to the next
without a coherent strategy.

“Tepco is clearly just hanging on day by day, with no time to think
about tomorrow, much less next year,” said Tadashi Inoue, an expert in
nuclear power who served on a committee that drew up the road map for
cleaning up the plant.

Today's reports:

WSJ: "Radiation of 750 million becquerels a liter of cesium-134 and 1.6
billion becquerels a liter of cesium-137 was recorded, Tepco said. The
normal limits for the two potentially harmful isotopes are 60 and 90
becquerels, respectively. In April 2011 a combined 1.8 billion
becquerels was recorded. 'The level of radioactivity is potentially serious but the impact
would depend on where it is found,' a Tepco official said. The sample
came from a trench near the No. 2 reactor turbine building, the utility
said. Water with much lower radiation—around 9,000-18,000 becquerels a
liter--has leaked into the sea from groundwater, Tepco said earlier this
week after the Nuclear Regulation Authority said it suspected seepage.
This radiation was at 'far lower levels' than found in the trench
samples, the Tepco official said. Tepco is searching for the water source. It is probably from one of
the damaged reactor cores. It is trying to stop the water leaking into
the sea, it said."

EXSKF: "5,000 cubic meters, or 5,000 tonnes of this water is in the trench. Note: 5,000 cubic meters of water is equal to 5 million liters. One
liter was found to contain 2.35 billion becquerels of cesium. If this
concentration is consistent, the total amount would be nearly 12
quadrillion becquerels of cesium in this one trench."

Japan Times(hat tip: ENE): "Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday that the trench problem at the
crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has cropped up again and is
sending highly radioactive water into the sea. The water in the underground passage, which runs under the turbine
building of reactor 2, contains 2.35 billion becquerels of cesium per
liter, roughly the same as that measured right after the crisis began in
spring 2011. The latest sample, taken Friday from a trench, contained 750 million
becquerels of cesium-134, 1.6 billion becquerels of cesium-137 and 750
million becquerels of other radioactive substances, the utility said. A sample from April 2011 contained 1.8 billion becquerels of both
cesium-134 and cesium-137 per liter. Cesium has a half-life of about 30
years. The trench is believed to be the source of the groundwater problem
that’s been baffling Tepco’s experts for months. Their current theory is
that the highly radioactive water found and left in the trench in 2011
is now leaking directly into the groundwater, which is seeping into the
sea.Tepco finally admitted Monday that contaminated water was getting
into the Pacific. The admission came after the Nuclear Regulation
Authority pointed out that highly radioactive water was 'strongly
suspected' to be seeping into the ground under the site and making its
way to the sea."

Asahi Shimbun: "According to TEPCO, 2.35 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium
were detected per liter of water that was sampled July 26 from a cable
pit on the ocean side of the No. 2 reactor. The breakdown was 750 million becquerels of cesium-134 and 1.6 billion becquerels of cesium-137. A liter of the water was also found to contain 750 million
becquerels of radioactive substances that emit beta rays, such as
strontium. Those concentration levels are almost the same as measurements taken during the early phases of the disaster, TEPCO said.
'We believe the highly radioactive water is staying within
the pit,' a TEPCO official said, adding that the utility will
nevertheless check carefully for possible leaks into surrounding soil
and seal the ground to block such leaks from reaching the sea. ... The utility hopes to halt the problem by building a wall out of liquid
glass between the reactors and the sea and removing the contaminated
water from the underground passage."

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Welcome to my blog, dedicated to the aporia, anomie, mysteries, and nervous tensions of the turn of the Millennium. I'm a writer and academic, trained in the field of history. These are my histories of things that define the spirit of our times. This blog also goes beyond historians' visions of the past, and examines how metatime and time are perceived in other media and disciplines, between generations, and in high and pop culture.